Pours a clear reddish-brown with a foamy beige head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, and wood aromas. Taste is much the same with caramel, toffee, brown sugar, red wine, and wood flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of wood bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a low level of carbonation with an almost flat and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with solid red wine barrel aged aspects that are slightly better in the smell.

This was one of the many beers poured at the December Albany Taproom bottle share, courtesy of Darren. Poured out of a 22oz bottle into a tulip glass. 2012 vintage, I believe?

The appearance is not what I expected at all - dark, almost maroon in color with a very small, off-white head. The foam fizzles out almost completely - leaving behind no noticeable sticky lacing, although each swirl does coat the glass's edges with a briefly darkened sludgy texture. Hate to say it, but this looks really muddy and sludgy. Let's hope it smells and tastes better.

The aroma DOES indeed deliver a unique profile - and simply put, one of the most enjoyable and strangest profiles I've ever come across on a barleywine, particularly one that's barrel aged. This starts off with an immense amount of dried black fruits, ranging from prunes to cassis to blackberries, only then to dwell into some brief notes of peppercorns, slight black tea, and a variety of barrel spices - most notably, brown sugar and cloves. Then, there's a hyper-bizarre lactic flavor that comes through, as well as a bit of tartness, that's no doubt from the oak barrels used. Even if this is infected, it strangely works, as it accentuates the sweetness from the barrel spices and the fruity flavor from the malts and yeast. I had a jolly time whiffing this - it's pretty unique.

After a few sips, we were pretty convinced something went awry with the barrel aging process of this beer, but overall, it somehow works! First, there's the dark berry notes as mentioned earlier, with some spiciness, as well as a toffee, caramel, and brown sugar sweetness. Then, the lactic sugars take over like crazy upon the beer's profile, delivering a milk, sugar cream like consistency and funky cheese rind flavor that somehow melds really well with the fruits - in a way, this is the liquid equivalent of a blackberry cheese danish. There's no better way to describe it, but that's how it panned out. Grape must and tart, slightly vinegary flavors are at the finish, but it's otherwise pretty sweet, fruity, and decadent. Carbonation is surprisingly good after all this time, and it never feels sludgy or thick - rather, it's pretty vinous in quality overall, save for the extra carbonation. A really interesting, strange treat of a beer!

I was very surprised how much I liked this, but beer buyer beware: if you're not a big fan of red wine, or funky cheeses, you probably won't like this at all. There's a lot at stake here, and it's hard to know what exactly happened to this beer over time, but the results are very strange and truly unique. Recommended if you can find a bottle!

Overall- Another great beer from a Brewery that does not get enough credit this Barley wine was aged in local Zinfandel barrels I will buy a bottle or two and age them and hopefully they hold up and improve with age...CHEERS

Pours half a finger of head on a dark brown body.The aroma is musty wood with grapes... and a touch of lemon.The taste is dark, boozy with strong bitterness, molasses, wine notes and a dry wood finish.The texture is smooth and soft with low carbonation.Fairly nice. This was a 2013 bottle, which will probably smooth out with age.

S: Dark fruit, citrus, orange, grapefruit, grape and some wine barrel character in the nose.

T: Starts off almost like a strong double IPA with an orange/grapefruit hop character and typical dipa malt profile, followed by grape, followed by some spices, coriander, nutmeg, then some peppercorn, red wine, red grape wine barrel character in the finish which become is very wine-like.

M: Full bodied and smoothish.

O: This brewery doesn't get the credit it deserves. This is a great beer, if perhaps not their best. It's somewhat novel in it's use of used Zinfandel barrels, and it uses barrels local to Placer county (the county in which the brewery is located) wineries.

Pours out a deep red/brown, with ruby highlights. 1/2 inch tan head with minimal lacing.

The smell starts with dark, fruity malts, oak and caramel. Alcohol follows, with a hint of white wine and pine.

Very mellow taste. Chocolate plum comes to mind for the start of the taste. Slight booze followed by dry oak around the middle. Slight, tart grape followed by a hint of pine for the finish. Slightly hot with a moderate thickness.

In all honesty, with wine barrel aging, I wouldn't cellar any longer on the 2012 Vintage. It's good now, but when I think cellar potential, I think probably not.

This beer was Guilherme choice. Split three ways at Beer Revolution, on to the beer:

Zin barrels in a barleywine? Aging beers in wine barrels is a two way street, so let's find out where this goes. The beer is dark brown and looks almost black. The head is a half inch thick and retains decently. Aroma is a good sign with brown sugar, toasted malts, and some sour grape. Not out of whack yet.

The taste starts with raisin. Toasted sugar is brough to the front as well. Then comes a blast of sour,which I'm betting is the zin doing the talking. The overall flavor shouldn't work, but it just does. The beer is medium heavy bodied with a smooth texture.